1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to cooking stoves and, more particularly, to a compact stove capable of generating intense heat under adverse weather conditions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Cooking stoves which utilize a liquid fuel have long been used for camping. With the increasing popularity of a type of camping known as "backpacking" in which all of the fuel and equipment of the camper must be carried by the camper there has developed a need for a lightweight stove which does not unduly increase the weight of the camper's load and which is compact in order to conserve the relatively small volume of space in a backpacker's pack. A compact, lightweight, self-contained stove and cooking gear unit is also a necessary component of an emergency survival kit carried by hikers, hunters, snowmobilists, boaters and pilots. One of the most critical requirements for wilderness survival is the retention of body heat since hypothermia, the excessive loss of body heat, is by far the biggest killer of people who are lost or injured in the wilderness. In order to quickly supply heat to an individual, it is necessary that the survival stove be easily and quickly operable. This is particularly true where the individual is already suffering from hypothermia since an early sympton of hypothermia is a marked reduction in mental powers and manual dexterity. Many conventional stoves which are compact and light in weight must be primed before they are operational. Yet hypothermia victims may be unable to perform the somewhat complicated and time consuming priming procedure with sufficient speed to arrest advancing hypothermia.
An additional problem encountered with many compact, liquid-fuel stoves is their relatively low heat output. In colder climates and in glacier and snow camping where snow is melted to provide drinking and cooking water, many conventional stoves, particularly those that are compact, fail to develop sufficient heat to rapidly cook food, melt snow or boil water. This problem is often intensified by severe cold and high winds which often remove heat from the stove as fast as it is produced.
In order to devise a stove which meets the aforementioned criteria, the stove must be formed of a lightweight material such as aluminum or plastic, and the various portions of the stove should compactly nest together as much as possible. Conventional stoves utilize both of these techniques to some extent, but nevertheless fail to achieve a design having optimum weight and compactness since, with few exceptions, they do not utilize the components of the stove for a multitude of purposes, and the nesting capability of the components are severely limited by their structures. Furthermore, the stove should be immediately operational without first performing any complicated procedures. Finally the stove must have a relatively high heat output even under cold and windy conditions.